The sparkling Palau Sant Jordi arena is a long way from the Jersey Shore, where Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began their legendary association a quarter-century ago. But for 20,000 fans here Friday, it felt like the promised land. Kicking off the most anticipated reunion tour in rock since Bob Dylan and the Band reteamed in 1974, Springsteen and the eight-piece group didn't waste any time demonstrating that they can still make spirits soar.

Using a new dating technique, researchers from Britain, Spain and Portugal have shown that cave art in Spain is the oldest in Europe, as much as 10,000 years older than some previously dated cave art in France. The oldest art they found was nearly 41,000 years old, which means it was produced about the same time that anatomically modern humans first entered Europe from Africa. That means either that the modern humans brought the technique with them from Africa, that their new creativity was inspired by conflict and competition with the Neanderthals, or that the art was done by the Neanderthals themselves, said archaeologist Joao Zilhao of the University of Barcelona.

Camilo Jose Cela, a Spanish writer whose violent, grotesque images sprang from his nation's civil war that killed more than 1 million of his countrymen, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. The Swedish Academy cited Cela, 73, for "rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability."

MADRID -- Master guitar-maker Arcangel Fernandez has stopped taking orders. He's been at it for 50 years, fashioning delicate wooden shells into lacquered beauties, and at age 75 he has enough work for the rest of his life. However, the aficionados buying his coveted $13,000 instruments are not local musicians but Japanese collectors -- an alarming sign that the art form considered so intrinsically Spanish is declining in its birthplace and is now more popular among foreigners.

Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen, the West German steel billionaire, is moving out of Lugano for artistic and financial reasons. Thyssen, who has long argued that Switzerland does not offer any attractive tax advantages, is offering to sell Villa Favorita, his home-cum-museum, to the town but officials declined to comment on reports that the asking price is $30 million.

Using a new dating technique, researchers from Britain, Spain and Portugal have shown that cave art in Spain is the oldest in Europe, as much as 10,000 years older than some previously dated cave art in France. The oldest art they found was nearly 41,000 years old, which means it was produced about the same time that anatomically modern humans first entered Europe from Africa. That means either that the modern humans brought the technique with them from Africa, that their new creativity was inspired by conflict and competition with the Neanderthals, or that the art was done by the Neanderthals themselves, said archaeologist Joao Zilhao of the University of Barcelona.

MADRID -- Master guitar-maker Arcangel Fernandez has stopped taking orders. He's been at it for 50 years, fashioning delicate wooden shells into lacquered beauties, and at age 75 he has enough work for the rest of his life. However, the aficionados buying his coveted $13,000 instruments are not local musicians but Japanese collectors -- an alarming sign that the art form considered so intrinsically Spanish is declining in its birthplace and is now more popular among foreigners.

Five visitors stand in the bright daylight outside the extraordinary cave. A guide switches off the yellow floor lights and slams the heavy metal door, sealing the entrance for another day. It is rid of body heat and contaminating breath. Pitch black. Cool. The only sound is water dripping from stalactites. The cave is at rest again, just as it was for 14,000 years until a hunter stumbled upon the entrance 132 years ago.

After 70 years of painting, Esteban Vicente still has to paint. The 89-year-old painter and collage artist is one of the last active members of the first generation of the New York School, the group of Abstract Expressionists that included Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollack and Franz Kline. Born in Spain, he regularly accompanied his father on visits to the Prado Museum in Madrid beginning at age 4. In the 1920s, after studying sculpture in art school, he turned to painting.

Fine art, fall festivals and fashion will highlight a two-week, four-city trip to France and Spain beginning Oct. 1. The tour begins with four days in Paris. Participants can attend fashion shows and shop in chic boutiques. Art highlights include the new Egyptian wing of the Louvre and the Palais Gallieri museum of fashion. At the Wine Festival of Montmartre visitors will help celebrate the grape harvest in Paris' last remaining vineyard.

Five visitors stand in the bright daylight outside the extraordinary cave. A guide switches off the yellow floor lights and slams the heavy metal door, sealing the entrance for another day. It is rid of body heat and contaminating breath. Pitch black. Cool. The only sound is water dripping from stalactites. The cave is at rest again, just as it was for 14,000 years until a hunter stumbled upon the entrance 132 years ago.

The sparkling Palau Sant Jordi arena is a long way from the Jersey Shore, where Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began their legendary association a quarter-century ago. But for 20,000 fans here Friday, it felt like the promised land. Kicking off the most anticipated reunion tour in rock since Bob Dylan and the Band reteamed in 1974, Springsteen and the eight-piece group didn't waste any time demonstrating that they can still make spirits soar.

Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen, the West German steel billionaire, is moving out of Lugano for artistic and financial reasons. Thyssen, who has long argued that Switzerland does not offer any attractive tax advantages, is offering to sell Villa Favorita, his home-cum-museum, to the town but officials declined to comment on reports that the asking price is $30 million.

Camilo Jose Cela, a Spanish writer whose violent, grotesque images sprang from his nation's civil war that killed more than 1 million of his countrymen, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. The Swedish Academy cited Cela, 73, for "rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability."

March 13, 1988 | Pratapaditya Pal, Pal is senior curator of Indian and Southeast Asian art at the County Museum ofArt.

"The Art and Architecture of Islam" is yet another in a series of affordable Penguin books on the art and architectural histories of the world that is familiar to students as well as to most interested readers. While in the past the series has included histories of most major art traditions, a book on the history of the art and architecture created by the various Islamic cultures of Asia, Africa and Europe was long overdue. This particular volume, therefore, is all the more welcome, even though it covers only the early period (650-1250)